Shade-holder.



No. 721,704; PATENTED MAR. s, 1903.

R. M, HILL. r

. SHADE HOLDER; APPUOATION FILED OUT. 24, 1902.

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v WITNESSES;-

.154: Nonms PETERS co.. rwo'rauruou Asnmmm n. cy

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROLLA M. HILL, OF RASHER FALLS, NEW YORK.

SHADEQH'JOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 721,704, dated March 3,1903.- Application filed October 24, 1902. Serial No. 128,536- (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RoLLA M. HILL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Brasher Falls,

in the county of St. Lawrence and State of New York, have inventedcertain newand useful Improvements in Shade-Holders; and

I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable'others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inshade-holders, and relates more particularly to that class used for thepurpose of supporting shade-holders used in connection with incandescentlights.

I propose a novel means for supporting the shade wherein the same may bepositioned with relation to the bulb from below the same; and to theseends the invention, briefly described, may be said to consist of a ringadapted for engagement with the shade, the ring carrying a series ofspring-held rocking arms, the latter having their ends formed toconveniently receive and grasp the bulb, so as to hold the ring in arelatively fixed position. These arms have their ends extending bothabove and below the pivotal points, so by moving their upper endsoutwardly away from each other their lower ends will be correspondinglymoved in an inward direction, readily permitting of the bulb beingreceived, the upper ends of the arms when engaged by the bulb naturallybeing forced outwardly, thus causing the lower ends to grasp the bulb tosecure the same against movement.

By referring to the accompanying" drawings, illustrating a practicalembodiment of the invention, and in which like characters of referenceindicate similar parts throughout the several views, Figure l is aperspective view of the invention, showing the shade partly broken away,so as to expose the interior thereof. Fig. 2 is a perspective view ofone of the spring-held rocking arms. Fig. 3 is a side elevation'thereof,and Fig. 4 is a detail view illustrating the mode of connecting theinner ring to the outer one.

The bulb 1 and the shade 2 are of common form, as illustrated, the shadebeing of the form used for the purpose of receiving advertising matter,being of transparent material and illuminated by means of theincandescent light, as will be understood.

A wire'ring 3, preferably circular in form,

through not essentially so, since the shape of wrapped together andhaving their ends spread and wound independently of each other about thering 3, as at 5.. This wrapped portion of the arms 4 exists only betweenthe ends of the two lengths of wire, the other ends of which are woundabout the inner ring, (shown at 6,) the'said ends traveling in oppositedirections and being continued to form one length of the arm for thesucceeding one. Thus should there exist three arms it will only benecessary to employ three lengths of wire, since the one length is firstwound about the outer ring 3, then wrapped with the adjacent length toform one of the arms, is then wound about the inner ring, andfrom thencemerges outwardly to be wrapped with the adjacent length on the sideopposite to thatjust mentioned, from whence it is wrapped about theouter ring 3. The'inner ring 6 is supported solely by these strands and,as will be observed, is of less diameter than the outer ring 2. Therocking arms (shown at 8) are each composed of two lengths of wire,being formed symmetrical at their ends, and, as illustrated, comprisediverging fingers 9,emanating from the wrapped portion 10 of the arms 8,this latter continuing to in proximity to the inner ring 6, at whichpoint the lengths of wire are bent outwardly at substantially rightangles, as at 30, but in opposite directions, away from one another, andare then bent downwardly, as at 19, and coiled about'the inner ring 6,as will be seen at 11. This coiled portion forms an eye 12, whichreadily permits of the arms having a free and easy movement about theinner ring 6 as a point of pivot and are continued downwardly andinwardly toward one another, then being twisted or wrapped together, andfrom the termination of the twisted portion the lengths are bentoutwardly to form fingers agreeing in all respects to the fingers at theupper portion of the arms, except as hereinafter explained. It might behere noted that the lengths which are wrapped about the inner ring forthe purpose of continuing the same to form the one length of thesucceeding strand are slightly looped, as at 18, which looped portion isadapted for engagement with the downwardly-projecting portions of thelengths forming the rocking arms, as seen at 19, and will have atendency to limit the outward movement of the lower fingers of the arms,as well as exerting a certain amount of pressure outwardly upon theupper fingers of the arms, and thus causing them to be normally heldopen for reception of the bulb. As will be noted from Fig. 3 of thedrawings, the arms in elevation are preferably formed arc-shaped to morereadily receive the bulb and conform themselves to the curvature of thelatter.

I desire to emphasize the fact that in the manufacture or in practicethe outer ring may be entirely dispensed with, in which event therocking arms are received directly upon the inner ring; but in all casesWhere a shade of any large proportions is employed it is preferable toemploy an outer ring, which, as will be noted, serves to space the shadefrom the bulb, and consequently the heat will act upon the shade withless vigor.

It will be readily understood from the foregoing that in operation thefingers at the lower portions of the arms are moved inwardly toward oneanother, which movement will naturally cause the upper arms to moveoutwardly when the device is placed in position from below the bulb, theengagement of the latter with the lower arms causing the same to moveoutwardly and the upper arms to move correspondingly inward until thebulb is engaged and supported by the lower arms, at which time the samewill occupy the position illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

The wire employed for the purpose of manufacturing a device of thischaracter is preferably possessed of slight springy quality, more orless, to suit the needs, and in practice by reason of this propertypossessed by the arms of being springy the holder may be moved upwardlyto any desired height as will be permitted by the engagement of thefingers with the bulb, the device remaining in that position until moveddownwardly, as will be understood.

The illustration of the invention is capable of numereus changes andalterations, and consequentlysuch as fall within the spirit and scope ofthe invention are embraced thereby.

When the shade to be supported is of heavy material, it may be desirableto secure the upper embracing-fingers 9 of the rocking arms 10 againstoutward movement, except when it is desired to remove the shade. Thismay be accomplished by forming an eye of the wire at the end of onefinger, as shown at 21, adapted to engage with the hook 22, formed ofthe wire at the end of the next adjacent finger. It is obvious that whenthus formed and the holder is pushed upward upon the bulb l sufficientlyfor the ends of the several upper fingers 9 to come into engagement witheach other by thrusting the hooks 22 through the eyes 21 the holder willbe locked against retraction over the body of bulb 1 until said hooksand eyes are disengaged from such locked position.

Having thus fully described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a device of the type set forth, the combination with a wire ring,of a series of springheld arms pivoted to the said ring and extendingabove and below the ring, with engaging fingers at the ends of the saidarms.

2. A device of the type set forth,comprising a ring and a series ofholder-arms pivoted thereto, extending above and below the ring, andengaging fingers at the ends of said arms.

3. A device of the type set forth, consisting of a ring with a series ofspring-held arms pivoted thereto and extending above and below the ring,fingers carried by the arms, the fingers above the ring having a limitedinward movement.

4. A device of the type set forth consisting of a ring, having a seriesof arms pivoted thereto, said arms extending above and below the ringand carrying fingers thereon, and means for limiting the inward movementof the same.

5. A device of the type set forth comprising a ring, with a larger ringcarried thereby, the larger ring adapted to support the shade, a seriesof pivoted spring-held arms secured to the smaller ring, with fingerscarried by the arms, said arms extending above and below the said rings.

6. Adevice of the type set forth comprising a ring with a series ofspring-held arms pivoted thereto, said arms being formed of strands ofwire coiled about the said ring, and having twisted portions above andbelow the ring, with the ends of the strands separated and bent to formfingers for engagement with the bulb.

7. A device of the type set forth comprising a ring and a series ofholder-arms pivoted thereto, with fingers carried by the arms extendingabove and below the ring, the fingers at the upper portions of the armshaving a limited inward movement, the fingers at the lower portion ofthe arms adapted to be moved inwardly and be engaged by the bulb whenthe holder is being positioned, causing the upper fingers to moveinwardly to engage the bulb, and secure the same.

8. A device of the type set forth, comprising a ring carrying a seriesof spring-held rocking arms said arms extending above and be- IIO lowthe ring,fingers carried therebyand means fingers of said arms at apoint of their inwardfor limiting the inward movement of the arms.travel.

9. A device of the type set forth,comprising In testimony whereof Iaffix'my signature a ring carrying a series of spring-held rockinpresence of-two witnesses.

5 ,in g arms, said arms carrying fingers, the arms I ROLLA M. HILL.extending above and below the ring, with Witnesses: v means for limitingthe inward movement of GEORGE E. SHEPARD,

the arms and means for locking the upper EDWARD P. LYNCH.

